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Congratulations to Duane N for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 16 votes - View Previous Winners
I've had one other opportunity like this several years ago but quite frankly I screwed it up. I followed this young Red-tailed Hawk around last week for nearly 6 hours as it hunted in various parts of the botanical garden I go to all the time.
2 other photographers left to go eat lunch so I was there watching the hawk as it sat in a tree. Another photographer who had also left earlier in the day returned after he saw my truck still in the parking lot so he knew I was still with the hawk. As we talked I noticed the hawk eyeing something very intensely and the other photographer said there was a Squirrel walking across the ground over my left shoulder.
It took 4 seconds from initial flight till the hawk got ahold of the Squirrel...it missed the flight strike but managed to run around the tree and catch the Squirrel from the ground.
Informative series showing natural predation. Good sharp images. Usually it's the talons that do the killing; the beak is used for post-mortem dismembering and consuming. I observed a similar sequence with a large rabbit that was considerably heavier than the attacking Red-tailed Hawk. But the hawk had its talons on the rabbit's throat/neck area at the onset, and it took a very short time before the rabbit was no longer moving. It's startling and exciting to witness, but I must confess to feeling a quick and unexpected pang of sadness, also.
Very depressing. Not that nature takes it course but because I can't even get a clear, up close shot of a hawk at rest much less chasing prey ... And, you have 10 sharp shots!
All great captures. Way to be patient and wait it out!
David Leask wrote:
Fantastic sequence Duane! Wow! Well captured.
David
Thank you. I've been photographing this hawk for about 6 months now. It's quite the regular around the botanical garden and I knew one day it would give me the opportunity to actually photograph it catching something. I've seen it catch 3 Squirrels, one Flying Squirrel, a Rabbit and a Lizard but never actually got the photographs as it happened until last week.
Shiva dancing wrote:
Yikes! And I thought the squirrel would be able to outrun the bird once it was on the ground. Fantastic action sequence - well done Duane.
That's what I thought would happen but obviously this Squirrel was either in shock because of the initial hit or it was a young one. Either way the hawk ran around the tree once and on the backside of the tree it got ahold of the tail and when they came around to my side the hawk jumped and grabbed onto it permantly.
brimull wrote:
Informative series showing natural predation. Good sharp images. Usually it's the talons that do the killing; the beak is used for post-mortem dismembering and consuming. I observed a similar sequence with a large rabbit that was considerably heavier than the attacking Red-tailed Hawk. But the hawk had its talons on the rabbit's throat/neck area at the onset, and it took a very short time before the rabbit was no longer moving. It's startling and exciting to witness, but I must confess to feeling a quick and unexpected pang of sadness, also.
The hawk initially had it by the back end and it kept biting it around the neck and head...I'm sure having those daggers dug into does the trick but the hawk didn't have good control of it at the start....they kept struggling for about 3-4 minutes.
tfoltz wrote:
Awesome behavioral sequence, your patience paid off big time
-Tim
The 6 hours following it paid off I guess. Normally I would have left 5 hours prior to this but I had a feeling it was going to catch something and it was overcast so I said what the heck and I stayed.
marklankton wrote:
Wow, that is a real action sequence, telling the story start to finish. Congratulations on nailing it, too.
Mark
Thank you for the reply. It was an eventful day for me...actually a dream come true. A Red-tailed Hawk in my backyard is what got me into wildlife photography so this hawk is at the top of my list as far as favorite raptor.
